These are the official biographies of ZOEgirl that were written after each of their albums was released. The most recent is at the top.
“Room to Breathe” Biography (2005)
With more than 1 million albums sold worldwide and an impressive track record that heralds them as the fastest-selling debut artist in the 26-year history of Sparrow Records, ZOEgirl has managed to create a success story that continues to get bigger and bigger with the release of each new album. Performances at venues like New York’s Madison Square Garden, The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Walt Disney World have helped ZOEgirl become one of the top female pop groups in Christian music—a platform upon which Chrissy Conway, Alisa Girard and Kristin Swinford keep building brick by brick.
ZOEgirl exploded onto the scene in 2000 with the group’s self-titled debut, scoring four Top 5 radio hits. They followed with a sophomore album, Life, which continued to propel the girls’ blossoming career. Those first two projects placed ZOEgirl in front of hundreds of thousands of fans on stage with artists such as Newsboys, Plus One, Avalon and Carman. Following the late 2003 release of their last album, Different Kind Of FREE, ZOEgirl hit the ground running as a featured artist on the 25-city Shoutfest tour before heading out on their first headlining tour in early 2004. The FREE Experience tour, which also featured Superchic[k], Joy Williams and Focus on the Family speaker Susie Shellenberger, was a huge success with audiences across the country. The FREE Experience tour saw sell-out attendances in many markets during a year when the touring industry was taking a hard hit.
Now, with Room To Breathe, their first new album in over a year, ZOEgirl is moving forward with some of the most compelling music of their career. Produced by Mark Heimermann, “Double Dutch” (Robert Marvin), Josiah Bell, Shawn Shankel, Tedd T. and Dan Muckala, Room To Breathe encompasses ZOEgirl’s growth as singers, songwriters, artists and women. “I think with each album we’ve been able to integrate more and more of who we are,” Alisa says. “We’ve really seen a need and have been trying to fill that void for young girls to have a different option when it comes to pop music, and we’ve done it without trying to fit into any kind of mold or demographic. I think we’ve just really focused in on who our listeners are and what they want to hear.”
As every recording artist knows, longevity does not come easily in a fast-paced music industry that is constantly chasing the next big trend. But ZOEgirl’s biggest accomplishment is their unending ability to connect with their fans around the world. “Our audience is constantly expanding,” says Chrissy. “We’ve got younger girls, teenagers (including boys!), and parents coming to all of our shows and they are having a great time. We’ve had some great conversations with them and we really love getting their feedback.”
That feedback—whether it comes through letters, after-show meetings or one-on-one time spent with young girls on recent mission trips—translates into some of the real life moments Chrissy, Alisa and Kristin write about on their albums. Room To Breathe captures those poignant moments that come straight from the heart.
Filled with soaring harmonies and brimming with a personal style that is quintessentially their own, the CD’s tracks include the album’s first radio single, “About You,” an up-tempo pop melody about learning to take the focus off yourself and make it all about God. “Dead Serious,” the track ZOEgirl calls the most fun song on the album, is a tribute to “all of those kids who really are standing up for what they believe, even though it’s not always the most popular thing to do,” Kristin explains.
The album’s title is pulled from a song called “The Way You Love Me,” written by Chrissy and songwriter Lynn Nichols. “This song talks about how it’s so unfathomable to realize how much God loves us despite what we do every day,” Chrissy explains. “We can’t ever fully grasp how he could love us so much that he died for us. The lyrics say, ‘You gave me room to breathe, a place to get away. I’m standing in your presence with a debt I can’t repay.’”
One of the album’s most honest and affecting songs is “Scream,” a lyric and music written by Alisa and inspired in part by some painfully revealing stories told by girls the group met on the road and while on a mission trip. “There are girls out there who admit to all kinds of self-destructive behaviors like eating disorders, drug abuse, drinking and cutting themselves out of a desperate need to numb the pain and cry out for help,” Alisa shares.
“Does anybody know how I feel? Sometimes I’m numb; sometimes I’m overcome… Do I have to scream for you to hear me? Do I have to bleed for you to see me? Because I grieve and you’re not listening to me.”
The song was a shower of emotions for Alisa, who was jointly inspired by hearing the deep hurts shared by the girls she’d met, and in honestly grieving her own personal pain and dealing with depression. “It took me two hours to write the whole song, and it was as if in that two hours I went through the pain of it and the healing of it. It was as if God just poured it out of me. It was so powerful.”
Having traveled on summer mission trips for the past two years, Chrissy, Alisa and Kristin have gained a renewed passion and vision to reach the world. As part of that effort, they have launched ZOEgirl Missions, a way to partner with their listeners in reaching out to areas in need. The first official ZOEgirl Missions trip took place last summer in Quito, Ecuador. Partnering with Big World Ventures, ZOEgirl took a missions group to visit retirement homes, play with children in orphanages, perform drama and music, and participate in various work and building projects for churches in Quito.
This July, ZOEgirl is planning a second trip to Ecuador, partnering again with Big World Ventures, and taking various teams with specific gifts. Chrissy, Alisa and Kristin will bring with them construction teams, music and worship teams, and teams that will visit nursing homes and orphanages. They will spend time with the residents, nurturing and serving them with whatever they need, whether it’s a haircut, a hug, or someone to sit with them and hold their hand. It’s ZOEgirl’s hope that they will touch those who experience so little human touch.
“If we hadn’t done these trips we wouldn’t be the group we are now,” says Alisa. “The girls who have gone on these trips have inspired more songs than they know.”
“These trips have really opened my eyes to the world,” Chrissy adds. “It has given me a new appreciation for life and has taught me so much in the process.”
Glancing back, in the rearview mirror of their career, it’s the relationships they build, the lives they touch and the impact they make for Christ that fuels this trio of women more than anything else.
“At the end of the day, in 20 years, I want to get a letter that says, ‘I gave my heart to Jesus at a ZOEgirl concert,’” Alisa says. “To me, that’s success. It’s great to sell albums and win awards, but we aren’t truly successful if we aren’t leading people to heaven. That’s eternal.”
Chrissy adds, “If we were remembered for anything else it wouldn’t seem like we had fulfilled what we know God has called us to do.”
“Different Kind of Free” Biography (2003)
The essence of life is change, and time births wisdom. And so, we live our lives in front of each other, bringing front and center the important things, all for the sake of finding our place within a fast-changing world. For Sparrow Records recording artist ZOEgirl, fullness of life is everything, and the group has spent the past three years exploring, through their songwriting and music, the hard issues facing teenage girls. Culturally pervasive themes such as self-esteem, eating disorders, suicide, and teen sex have always been near to the heart of ZOEgirl, and with collective sales of nearly 1 million units on projects ZOEgirl and Life alone, it is clear that their message has struck a powerful chord with a vulnerable generation.
ZOEgirl—Chrissy Conway, Alisa Girard, and Kristin Swinford—is a group who understand the relationship between time and change, and its impact on their music and message. “With the first album, there was such a hole in the music industry that would reach the in-between age (12-16 year olds) and a lot of parents in the church were really frustrated that their daughters were buying music that they didn’t approve of,” Alisa explains. If they wanted to fill a void within such a rudderless industry, ZOEgirl realized that they would initially have to sacrifice some of their own artistic tendencies in order to “make it fit for these little girls that were lost in a sea of pop music.” With the catchiest of pop beats and choreography, ZOEgirl made their way onto the music scene, scoring four Top 5 radio hits, and eventually appearing before more than a million people, having toured with such artists as Newsboys, Plus One, Avalon, and Carman.
With the release of their sophomore project, Life, ZOEgirl stepped outside the stylistic bounds of a more packaged debut and created a brilliant second chapter in their ministry. Life, with its edgier, more intense feel, garnered more hits and praise, and ultimately opened more doors for the message of ZOEgirl to be developed as well as shared. Suddenly, Chrissy, Alisa, and Kristin found themselves stepping deeper into the raw heart of pop culture. In 2001, the group participated in a mission trip to Caracas, Venezuela, where they ministered with 300 young girls to the community through personal interaction and music. “One night we split into teams with the idea that the girls could share anything that was on their hearts,” Chrissy recalls. “We were stunned by what we heard. Things like: ‘I hate my body,’ ‘I hate my shape,’ ‘I’m taking diet pills,’ ‘I’m thinking of suicide.’ I don’t think we realized that so many of the girls, almost all of them, were dealing with these issues.”
The essence of life is change, and the current musical climate is schizophrenic. On any given Top 40 station, the playlist will include Eminem, POD, Pink, Avril Lavigne, and Justin Timberlake—all in a row, typically. The pressure is off; there is no particular pop genre vying for the attention of the youth. After three years of familiarizing themselves with their audience, cultural trends, and each other, ZOEgirl adamantly believe that Different Kind Of Free, the group’s third studio release, is the project most true to who they are artistically, as individuals and as a group.
ZOEgirl fans should not worry about not being able to recognize their favorite group. The lyrics found on Different Kind Of Free are as personal and accessible as ever. Stylistically, the group has found a rare balance between guitar-driven pop and groove-laden R&B, while maintaining their signature sound of catchy hooks and powerful choruses.
If ZOEgirl filled a void within pop music while simultaneously bringing to light the issues facing young girls, and if Life took those issues to the next level, then Different Kind Of Free is a project dedicated to the responsibility of making sense of the issues. It is evidence of the connection between time and change, honesty and wisdom. “We believe that our role is to be honest. It’s letting people know that we’re not perfect; it’s letting them know that we all have needs and desires to be stronger, and to follow God more. That’s what our role is . . . being an example to follow,” explains Kristin.
Although ZOEgirl is incredibly serious about exposing the pain which so much of their audience experiences, they are not content to simply let their audience remain in the broken-ness. “We want to talk about issues and empower people to be able to move past where they are and receive healing from God,” Alisa explains.
Empowerment. Freedom. These are the pervasive themes on Different Kind Of Free. The title track itself feels especially timely for Alisa. “We live in a freedom-focused world. ‘Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.’ It’s all such an insecure freedom. We want to profess a kind of freedom that can’t be taken away.”
Though Different Kind Of Free is a stylistic evolution for the women of ZOEgirl, the group’s mission remains constant: “We want to clearly lay out the story of Christ, of how to know him and receive him, because it is the most alive and passionate thing in our hearts,” says Alisa.
“LIFE” Biography (2001)
- Twenty-seven per cent of girls 12 to 18 suffer from eating disorders.
- One in five teenagers has attempted suicide by age 15.
- Depression affects nearly 20 percent of all teenagers.
- By the time teenagers reach 16, only 5 percent feel good about themselves.
The issues are serious. The questions seem insurmountable: How do you take a message as big as Life and reach the “Britney Spears” culture captivated by the imitation of life they watch on MTV?
Sparrow Records artist ZOEgirl may not have the end-all solution to the problem, but they do know their music’s purpose. “If someone with values isn’t willing to be a role model for kids, then somebody without values is,” says Kristin Swinford. “We want to give these kids more than just a show. We’ve got to give them the truth.”
Since the release of their self-titled debut in 2000, ZOEgirl – Chrissy Conway, Kristin Swinford, and Alisa Girard – have gone from being three talented vocalists who make up the members of a hit Christian pop group to a strand of three working inseparably.
“When we first came together,” Chrissy explains, “we were three completely different people from opposite ends of the country. Being together so much over the past year has helped us find our group identity.”
That identity was first forged on the group’s debut release, which stands as the fastest-selling debut album in Sparrow Records’ 25-year history. In less than a year, ZOEgirl sold over 225,000 copies, becoming one of 2000′s three best-selling new artist releases, and generated four Top 5 radio hits (“I Believe,”"Anything Is Possible,” “Living for You” and “No You”). Add to these achievements their live performances before nearly 1 million fans, and you begin to get the picture of why people of all ages are talking about ZOEgirl.
It follows that the group, who takes its name (ZOE) from the Greek word for “life,” would title its sophomore release Life. The new album showcases the musical and personal growth of each member, emphasizing what fans loved most about ZOEgirl’s debut – polished, pop melodies; straightforward, relevant lyrics; and an innovative musical freedom delivering the group’s signature sound. Some of the material was recorded with the trio producing and arranging their own vocals and Chrissy engineering.
“We feel like we own this album more,” says Chrissy. Kristin agrees, calling Life more progressive than the debut. “It’s headed in the direction where today’s pop music is going,” she explains. “Musically, we wanted this album to be as fun as the first one,” Alisa adds. “It’s youth pop, but with more of an edge, more guitar. Lyrically, we wanted to add a level of intensity that allows the messages to go deeper.”
That’s not a difficult task when the writers of those lyrics are the artists themselves. The members of ZOEgirl continue to prove their artistic talents and authenticity on Life, writing or co-writing all of the album’s cuts – a talent each developed individually years before becoming a group.
Those lyrics find their roots in several experiences, including singing and talking about life issues for the last year on tours like the 73-city “Heart of a Champion” tour with Carman.
“On the Carman tour, we met so many people who would tell us about issues in their lives,” says Kristin. “Talking with teens one-on-one, we realized the huge void of values-oriented pop music in the music world.”
Those conversations with fans soon became the catalyst for new song ideas that worked their way onto the album. “Dismissed,” written by ZOEgirl, comes from wanting to arm young women with a strength to overcome today’s innocence-stealing predators.
“I’ll never bow down to give you a kiss/ You’ll never steal my innocence/ You’ve been dismissed” ZOEgirl sings unabashedly, “No lookin’ back/I’m movin’ on!”
Though the meaning behind their name is hidden, ZOEgirl is anything but secretive about the message in their music. The new song, “Nick of Time,” speaks of the moment when God turns a life around: “In the nick of time/You opened up my mind/And suddenly I saw the world much clearer…”
“Our main focus on tour is seeing these kids come to Christ,” Alisa says. “We view ourselves as missionaries. Without compromising morally, we need to get them to listen.”
The song “Plain” was birthed during a weeklong summer 2001 mission trip to Caracass, Venezuela. ZOEgirl traveled with 300 young girls to help build up the community and minister through personal interaction and their music.
“One night we split into teams with the idea that the girls could share anything that was on their hearts,” Chrissy recalls. “We were stunned by what we heard. Things like: ‘I hate my body,’ ‘I hate my shape,’ ‘I’m taking diet pills,’ ‘I’m thinking of suicide.’ I don’t think we realized that so many of the girls, almost all of them, were dealing with these issues.”
The next night, ZOEgirl sang “Plain,” a song Kristin had been working on but was still not completed. “I wrote ‘Plain’ because these girls don’t realize how special they are and how important they are to God,” she says. “Within the first few lines of playing it for these girls, we looked out and they were in tears.”
The trip, all three members say, was a turning point. They returned to the States with new inspiration and a sense of clarity to write and record songs that would touch teens deeply. The moving ballad “Forever 17,” written by Chrissy, recounts the story of a 17-year-old girl killed by a drunk driver.
“We feel called,” Alisa says, “to lead teens to biblical solutions to serious issues of life: drug abuse, self-esteem, and the importance of making right decisions.”
Seeing how the lyrics on the first album impacted teens spurred the young women to want to go deeper on Life and see more kids come to know Jesus. “We’re speaking not only to those outside the church,” Kristin says, “but to the youth in the church who may not have made a personal choice to follow Him as Lord and Savior.”
This fall and spring 2002, ZOEgirl will continue to communicate that message as they begin the 85-city “Oxygen” tour with labelmates Avalon. In November, all three members will join the touring cast of the Christmas musical, “Child of the Promise.”
Life lays evidence that a three-strand cord is not easily broken. Alisa, Kristin and Chrissy have learned what it means to bring individual talents together for a common purpose. “The music is merely the vehicle to get there,” Kristin says. “It’s not about us. It’s about what’s happening in these kids’ lives.”
“ZOEgirl” Biography (2000)
Zoe means ‘life.’ Not just life in general, but the kind of life attained through living according to the will of God in Christ Jesus. We want our lives to be examples of that – being a ‘ZOEgirl.’ -Kristin Swinford.
If ZOEgirl was a movie rather than a high-octane pop act, their theater posters would probably say something like Different Pasts…Brought Together In The Present…To Touch The Future… While they come off personally as much too sincere to really go in for that kind of hype, the women of Sparrow Records newest signing, ZOEgirl, do indeed share a strong sense of purpose and a recognition that something more than mere coincidence brought their lives and artistry together.
Offering an upbeat, energetic mix of dance beats, R&B flavors, choreographed stage moves and pristine layered vocals, Chrissy Conway, Alisa Girard, and Kristin Swinford seem to be the genuine article, perfectly fitted to present the gospel to a young demographic weaned on MTV’s fast cut images.
“We all come from really different backgrounds culturally and spiritually”, Alisa says. “But the first time the three of us sat down and talked, we were amazed at how we all had the same goals and the same vision for ministering through music”, Kristin adds. “There are so many kids out there who aren’t hearing any messages of hope from the pop culture that influences them so heavily. We wanted to be the ones to bring them the message of Jesus, but we knew it had to be presented in a way they could connect with.”
From the self-titled project’s opening cut, ‘I Believe’, the strong message of hope – as well as a strong sense of connection to the musical tastes of the rising generation – are obvious. With an anthemic wash of triumphant vocal interplay, sonic texturing, and unstoppable dance rhythms, ‘I Believe’ serves as both a musical and lyrical centerpiece for ZOEgirl’s debut.
“‘I Believe’ really spells out in black and white what we’re all about,” says Alisa Girard (whose father Chuck is sure to be familiar to many in CCM circles). “In a world where it’s becoming less acceptable to talk openly about Jesus Christ, we want people to know we’re not ashamed, and we want to encourage kids who are believers to take a stand with us.”
Entering the studio shortly after joining forces, Chrissy, Kristin and Alisa, faced the unique challenge of not only melding their diverse musical backgrounds, but of writing and co-writing during the recording process.
“The three of us wrote most of the album in the studio writing for hours at a stretch,” Chrissy explains. “One of us would be in the booth recording a vocal while the other two would be out working on the next song, and then we’d swap. That was the atmosphere we found we could be creative in together – a lot of pressure and a lot of laughter.”
Intentionally aiming their songwriting at a young audience, the early twenty- something members of ZOEgirl gravitated towards issues that effect the lives of teens today. Abstinence, temptation, and the search for identity, became topics addressed alongside more vertical tunes, such as the hooky, R&B-laced ‘Anything Is Possible,’ that simply praises God for his enduring faithfulness and his ability to change hearts and lives.
“It’s so important for kids, even those who have grown up in the church, to know that God is alive and working in people’s lives,” Kristin comments. “They need to know that he’s personal for them, and that he’s not only a God of mercy, but a God of miracles and changed lives.”
Though their history together stretches back only a matter of months, ZOEgirl will take their powerful message, infectious harmonies, and dazzling roadshow to more people than any other CCM artist in the next twelve months. Touring with Carman, Clay Crosse, and Nichole Nordeman, ZOEgirl will build on the already overwhelming response they’ve received from teens, preteens, and enthusiastic parents alike. “We don’t want to be a group that just gets up there and does their show and then goes home and watches TV all night,” says Chrissy. “We really have a heart for the ministry and for the kids that we’re singing to. So many parents have already thanked us for the positive alternative we’re presenting. That’s encouraging. Our purpose as ZOEgirl is just to minister to kids however we can.”
